A Christmas Love
by 8cheshirekat
Summary: Jim/Jesse! This is kind of a follow up to "Goodbyes" and also my Christmas thing.... "You asked him, didn't you?"
1. Back Again

(Jim/Jesse, Aster/Jaden-implied) If all you do is something wrong, then what do you do when it all comes together? For a special day, Jesse had a plan that fell apart the day of. Now, the three guys who tore them apart will piece back together the 'golden boys' for the eve of a special day.

---Jesse---

A Christmas gift....

What do you get the person who has 'everything'?

That buzzed wildly in his head as his aqua hair was stained with bits of snow. He tucked his head deep into his scarf and trudged along.

Christmas was in three hours and he still didn't have anything for Mr. Have-Everything-Anyways. But what do you get someone like that? Someone that close and that special?

He felt his knees no more. His fingers were probably frozen solid. His toes definitely were, as he couldn't feel them puncturing the snow. He finally decided he'd stay away until he had something for his Mr. Have-Everything-Anyways.

His blue-green eyes followed a couple in a sleigh and his heart sank....

---_earlier in the day_---

"What do you mean?" Jim asked, his head dangling over the end of the bed, watching Jesse. "I mean, do you honestly want to go out? I'd rather stay home."

"Well, fine. I just wanted to spend some time outside with you." Jesse smiled brightly. "I'll just be right back. I need to tell the guy not to come here."

"What guy?" Jim was suspicious now and rolled over so he was up-right.

"Oh, just the sleigh guy. I asked if they could send someone here so we could go to the park. No big deal. He said I can change the plans last second if need be." Jesse was digging through the mess that was his desk. He used it only to schedule his training days and to be a shelf.

Jim sat up. "You had this whole thing planned out?"

"Well, yeah. I wanted something special."

"Jesse...."

He knew that 'Jesse....' and slowly turned around. Jim was looking at him with that cold heart again. "What?" he said, trying to smile.

"You know 'what'!" Jim said, getting off the bed. "I haven't spent one night alone with you! You've been out with Jaden and Aster and Atticus! Could it be you're trying to get away from me? Jesse, after all that happened, you still want to turn around and stab my heart out again?"

"No, I was getting their help with your Christmas present, Jim!"

"You and your stupid excuses." Jim grabbed Jesse's coat. "Out! Get out." Jim pushed him out the door and slammed it behind him, sliding the dead-bolt in place.

---_present_---

Jesse found some roasted almonds and sat in the park watching people skate on the ice. He felt like his busy days of being an ice skater were over now. If he was going to stay close to Jim, he was going to have to do something drastic. Ice skating was his livelihood. It gave him a rush of being alive to hear Jim applaud him at practices. With a sinking feeling, Jesse wondered if Jim knew only one side.

Reaching into his pocket, Jesse's numb hands found it.

Opening his palm to the glittering snow, a single band glimmered in the light of flickering torch lights.

Did Jim not know that today was special? To make it magnificent, Jesse had asked Aster to help him find someone to rent a sleigh from so Jaden could drive it. Atticus had helped pick out the ring for the engagement. Now, that was all a waste. Jesse suddenly threw the ring into the ice. Some of the skaters zoomed by before Jesse's eyes looked down at the roasted almonds and he decided he'd find a trash can.

He was rounding a corner when he saw an elderly man. He had a cardboard sign saying he was hungry and cold. Jesse looked at his thick jacket and his almonds.

Better idea.

---Jim---

He kicked the trashcan and was turning away when he heard a soft "thump" and turned around.

There was a little black box amongst all the trash. Jim dug it out and stared at it. Had Jesse purposely put that there?

He opened it and his hands dropped the box like it was on fire.

A single, silver band was engraved with 'Will you marry me?' in the crystal that held it. The silver band looked rather expensive and well crafted. The crystal must've cost a fortune to have it engraved and polished to a shine.

Jim was backing away when he heard a knock at the door. Grabbing his key, he quickly unlocked the door and was shocked.

Aster was standing there, stomping dirt and very heavy chunks of snow off his boots. He smiled a bit at Jim. "If it bothers you too much, I'll come back later. But I can see Jesse didn't ask you yet."

"You mean the ring?" Jim asked. Things were starting to click.

"Yeah. Atticus spent a fortune helping Jesse get it just right. Jesse's ring for you is quite something. A silver band with this nice, dark green emerald. It's quite lovely, but Jesse didn't have much after he'd bought his own. Besides, the sleigh guy called me and said nobody was outside when he drove by, so, I assumed you guys had left for your little 'dinner on the town' Jesse had all planned out. Hey!"

Jim had grabbed Aster's wrist. "Where is he?"

"How would I know." Aster shrugged. "Tell me you didn't act like a complete doosh bag again...."

"No! Well, not on purpose."

Aster suddenly broke out laughing. "Ah, so Jesse's jealousy plan worked. You're a real piece a work, you know?" Aster gave another smile. "Well, I'd venture a guess he's at the lake or the river. He loves the ice, you know that. If I were you, I'd hop to it and hope he's were you're looking."

Jim didn't wait. He grabbed his coat and darted out the door, leaving the lights on and the door locked.

Aster watched him go and shook his head. "Really, sometimes you and Jesse are so dense." He got out his phone and dialed Jaden's number. "Hey, darling, we have a problem."


	2. Found You!

Jaden stood there and watched Jim taking a breather. "For whatever reason you deem worthy, you're going to make this my fault, aren't you?"

Jim groaned.

Jaden smiled and Aster smacked him real good on the back of the head, making him pitch forward slightly. "Jim, where could he be if he's not here, at the river?"

Jim looked up, fury evident in his eyes when he noticed something and stood up. The other two followed his gaze and saw Jesse's jacket covering an elderly man. His fingers were digging into some roasted almonds and they realized Jesse had been here, at the river-side. The elderly man saw them looking and held out his can of coins.

Jim slowly walked up to him. "Where's the guy who gave you that coat?"

The man pointed to a nearby cart where Jesse was buying some hot cocoa. Jesse saw them and quickly came over, handing the man the three cups he'd bought. "Sorry, Fredrik. They didn't have marshmallows."

"Oh, it's okay. Chocolate's good as chocolate." He smiled brightly and Jim saw Jesse's smile dance in those aqua-colored eyes. No smile played across Jesse's face.

"You tuck in and enjoy the night. Now, you're warm." Jesse dug into his pocket and took out three one-hundred bills and set it in Fredrik's hands. "And this, hopefully, will buy you some nice cups of cocoa for the night."

"Thanks." Fredrik gave Jesse a hug. "Some Christmas I'll have, now!"

Jesse nodded and stepped back, as if he were an artist admiring his work. He shivered and suddenly began to fall. His hands showed signs of getting close to frostbite.

Jim panicked and quickly scooped Jesse up, wrapping the blue-haired boy in his thick, dark-brown jacket. "Let's get you home. Aster--"

Aster opened the door to his car and let Jesse be laid down on the cold leather. Jim started rubbing his hands against Jesse's blue fingers. He was desperate for Jesse to wake up and not be worried about frost.

Atticus, who had the warm a bit toasty, let it chill. He watched Jim frantically trying to cover Jesse with something else warm. Atticus looked at Aster as Jaden forked over his jacket. This was bad, and they all knew that much. But it was the fact that Jesse had ended up like this because of them.

Without a word, they all agreed they would make it better, no matter what it took.


	3. Storm Swearing?

Jim was watching Atticus take care of Jesse while he took a break. They were watching Jesse in shifts of thirty minutes. Jim was going to take over after Atticus' thirty minutes were up. It was the least he could do. He'd made a mistake, but it was the part of apologizing he'd have to contend with.

Quietly, Jim slipped into the kitchen. He opened the fridge and got out the eggnog and poured a cup each for all of them. After he handed them out, he went to Jesse's place. The back room that faced the city he called Satellite with the large, comfy sofa that Jesse often fell asleep on. Jim found a blanket and curled up, watching the snow drifts. Jesse always knew how to pick the scenery.

Before he knew it, Jim was fast asleep.

Jesse, on the other hand, wasn't getting better, but he was awake. He had a high fever and a bad cough from the snow and cold.

"Ah, look, you're worse for wear!" Jaden said, trying to be funny.

That earned him two large whacks to the back of the head from both men behind him. Atticus took the liberty of kneeing Jaden in the back before Aster dragged the brunette out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Atticus sat on Jesse's bedside. "Look, we'll do everything to fix this. It's only been four months since you and Jim had your letter incident. Besides, Jim is going to love you once we're done with his poor soul."

Jesse just smiled and his eyes closed again.

Atticus pulled the heavy blankets over Jesse's shoulders and tucked it around his neck. He gave Jesse another smile before standing up and walking out of the room.

He was just closing the door when he heard Aster yell something and then smash something fragile. This lead to a whole swarm of swearing form Jaden. Atticus leaned on the door, pressing his forehead into the wood grain. He had just put Jesse down and now this?! He was wheeling about to say something when he heard a new voice swearing even worse than Jaden and Atticus was shocked.

Jim was swearing louder, faster, and more crudely than Jaden had been.

Atticus pictured a trio of chibis. Jim was roaring fire at the other two and Aster was pointing at Jaden, who was cowering in fear with wide eyes. Atticus slapped his forehead with his palm before he shuffled towards the noise. Sometimes, they could be really strange.

He was about to say something as he entered the bathroom when he realized that they were all swearing and making rude hand gestures at each other. Atticus had to laugh then, because Jaden was sopping wet and the fragile thing that had broken earlier was a pair of nice handles on the sides of the tub. Aster was swearing at Jaden and was also soaking wet, fully-clothed, like Jaden. Jim was swearing because they'd woken him up before he was ready to wake.

Atticus started saying that they should calm down when a bell tolled from Jesse's spot with the grandfather clock.

It was Christmas Day.


	4. MakeUp

"Do you think he's okay?"

"Don't touch him!"

"But I wanna see if he's still alive!"

"Then don't poke him."

"I want to."

"Don't!"

Who was that? They were arguing with someone.

"I said don't!"

"But he's not breathing...."

"Leave him be or Jim is going to kill us!"

"No!"

Jesse's eyes flew open and just in time to see Jaden and Aster jump a mile.

He stared, wide-eyed, at the two of them and for some reason, he could only recall them in their old cloths. Aster, with his, now, shoulder-length hair and white tee. Jaden, with his usual brown mess of hair and a dark red jacket. But Jesse could only see them in a gray suit or red and black.

"Jesse!" Jaden said, grabbing Jesse in a hug. "Bruce and what's-his-name came by to see you this morning. You slept through the swearing match between Bruce and Jim." Jaden started describing what had happened, but Jesse's eyes fell on the door.

Jim was leaning, with his back to them, on the door frame.

"Jim?" he asked.

There was no answer.

Jesse suddenly made a fist and grabbed the lamp and was about to throw it when Jaden swapped it for the pillow. Not really thinking, Jesse threw the pillow so hard Jim's hat fell off and he stumbled forward. "Jim!"

He still didn't turn around, nor did he acknowledge that Jesse was throwing things at him.

Jesse's nerves snapped and he started throwing everything he could reach, even going so far as to grab Jaden's shirt front and throwing the poor bystander. This caused Aster to freak out and try to restrain Jesse.

Jim caught Jaden and set him down. Jaden looked up and smiled brightly at Jim. "Well, been a while since I've seen that."

Jim shrugged, the smile still there. He was waiting for Jesse to actually hit him.

Atticus had helped plan this whole thing out. Jesse would have to endure Jim's ignoring gesture. Once Jesse was close enough, Jim could ask the 'big question', rather than Jesse. If all went well, Atticus had planned for him and Alexis to set off the music and streamers. Jim just had to endure the heart-wrenching part of ignoring Jesse.

Which, now that Jim thought about it, was going to hurt a bit more....

Jesse grabbed a cup of water from his bedside and when that hit Jim, it smashed, cutting his shoulder just a bit. Since he didn't have anything else, Jesse marched up to Jim and grabbed his shoulder, wheeling him around.

Aster, who had hidden himself behind the nightstand poked his head out. It looked more like a war-zone had torn through the room than a mess. He made a face and Jaden patted him on the head. "It's like the third war of the world happened here...."

Jaden smiled and helped him up.

There was a moment of silence, which was broken by a tiny gasp.

Everyone's eyes were on Jesse, who was covering his mouth and all teary-eyed. He shook his head and Jaden and Aster held their breaths, holding onto each other's hands.

"I don't want to marry a guy who thinks he should kneel." Jesse reached down and took Jim's hand. "I was supposed to ask you."

"Ah, yes, well, Atticus and Jaden and Aster wanted to fix that."

Jaden punched Aster's arm. "_Told you_!" he said happily. "I _told you_ it would work!"

"Yeah, was that before or after Jim tried to dump Jesse?" Aster smiled as Jaden playfully punched his arm. He watched Jim lead Jesse into the living room. "Let's clean up so they feel better and can have a clean room again."

"How does he do it?" Jaden asked, turning the table upright again. It had served as a table for the basin of hot water they'd used to warm Jesse.

"Who does what?"

"How does Jesse get over life-threatening things like that?" Jaden asked, leaning on the table with the basin balanced on his head.

"Don't know. Maybe he's just durable." Aster threw a towel at Jaden and quickly dove for the pillow to avoid any glares.

There was a soft "twang" and Aster looked up. Jaden had been knocked over.

Jesse poked his head in. "Hey, guys, is there any cough medicine?"

"We left it in the kitchen," Jaden said, picking up the tin. "Why?"

"Oh, I've still got a cough, that's all."

Jim watched Jesse pass by again, heading for the kitchen. His heart felt a bit heavy that he'd doubted Jesse, again. He sighed and closed his eyes. Suddenly, the phone rang, scaring Jim. He put one hand on the wall and clutched his chest with the other. Since he was standing right next to it, it had given his heart a jump-start. He quickly picked up.


	5. Gifts For All?

"Hello?"

"JIM!"

He held the phone at arms-length as he listened to everyone yelling on the other end. After a second or two he told them to settle down.

"Zane?"

"Um, I hope I'm Zane." He sounded well. "Sorry, Syrus and the others really wanted to say hi. How's everything in Satellite?"

"Cold. What about at Central?"

"Cold." Zane was suddenly interrupted and he was yelling at someone. There was a long pause and then someone swore so loud Jim could've sworn they were the one's holding the phone, until-- "Gee, any louder, Sartorious?"

Jim broke out laughing. "Well, that's a first."

"Well, can't blame him. Sartorious had the bad idea of standing at the bottom of the stairs. Axel and Tyranno dropped piping hot chocolate on the poor guy."

Jesse touched Jim's knee. Since they were both sitting on the floor, Jim could see the first light of day falling all over Jesse. It was like they wanted to hug him with all their might. He smiled and mouthed "it's just Zane" before he spoke to Zane again.

Atticus leaned on the wall beside Alexis. Aster and Jaden crouched on the floor, all watching eagerly.

Jesse leaned forward and planted a small kiss on Jim's forehead and they all broke out into cheers, causing Zane to wonder what was going on.

Jesse started yelling at them, telling them to butt out. He started shooing them into the living room where the tree stood.

Jim just smiled to himself. He was head-over-heels and it didn't matter that Jaden still crushed on Jesse once in a while. This was going to be his life. This was his all.

"You asked him, didn't you?" Zane asked. He'd grown very used to the idea of Jesse and Jim since the day at the ice rink.

On the other side, Jim had grown used to Zane and Atticus. "No, not really. He was going to ask me."

"Ah, you waited too long," Zane said, playfully. "Look, just be happy he's there and enjoy it. Anything you miss you won't get back."

"I know." Jim saw Jesse standing at the end of the hallway again. "I have to go. We're going to do some gifts."

"See you tonight?"

"If I'm not busy."

"Aha!" Zane said. "Well, all the same--"

There was a lot of noise and then a chorus of people said; "See you tonight!"

Jim smiled and put the phone back. "I'm coming." Jesse held out his hand and Jim took it. For some reason, he felt like he could fly to the sun and back.

* * *

(**a/n:** gah! my "Goodbyes" was so popular.... =__= i needed to lighten the mood between Jesse and Jim! TOO MUCH EMO-NESS!)

Jaden: YAY! I'M GONNA GET SOME!  
Aster: Don't jump the gun....  
Jaden: Who cares.... o__o I GOTS SOME!  
Jim/Jesse: o.o;;  
p3n-stroke: WEIRDOS! THE LOT OF YOU! I'll do one fore both of you.... later....  
Sartorious: -still steaming- well, that was fun! Let's do it again.  
everyone: Not this time....


End file.
